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are taken from a light Soil, which 

 generally falls away from their 

 Roots : but if they are taken up 

 with Balls of Earth to their Roots, 

 and removed but a fmall Diftance, 

 there will be no Danger of tranfplant- 

 ing them in the Spring, provided it 

 is done before they begin to moot ; 

 for as thefe Plants will moot very 

 early in the Spring, fo if they are 

 removed after they have mot, the 

 Shoots will decay ; and many times 

 the Plants intirely fail. 



There are fome Perfons who, of 

 late, have banifhed thefe Plants from 

 their Gardens, as fuppofing them 

 poflefled of a poifonous Quality ; 

 becaufe the diltilled Water has 

 proved fo in many Jnftances : but 

 however the diitilled Water may 

 have been found deftrudlive to Ani- 

 mals, yet from numberlefs Experi- 

 ments, which have been made both 

 of the Leaves and Fruit, it hath not 

 appeared, that there is the leaft 

 hurtful Quality in either j fo that 

 the Whole muit be owing to the Oil, 

 which may be carried over in Diftil- 

 lation. 



The Berries have been long ufed 

 to put into Brandy, to make a fort 

 of Ratafia ; and the Leaves have al- 

 fo been put into Cuftards, to give 

 them an agreeable Flavour : and al- 

 tho' thefe have been for many Years 

 much ufed, yet there hath been no 

 one Inftance of their having done 

 the leaft Injury : and as to the Ber- 

 ries, I have known them eaten in 

 great Quantities, without Prejudice. 



There are fome Perfons who have 

 grafted the Laurel upon Cherry- 

 itocks, with Defign to inlarge the 

 Trees; but altho' they will take very 

 well upon each other, yet they feldom 

 make much Progrefs when either the 

 Laurel is grafted on the Cherry ,or the 

 pherry upon the Laurel ; fo that it 

 js only a thing of Curiofity, attend- 



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ed with no real Ufe: and I would 

 recommend to Perfons, who have 

 this Curiofity, to graft the Laurel 

 upon the Cornifo Cherry, rather than 

 any other Sort of Stock, becaufe the 

 Graft will unite better with this; 

 and as it is a regular Tree, and 

 grows large, fo it will better anfwer 

 the Purpofe of producing large 

 Trees. 



The Portugal Laurel has not been 

 very long cultivated in the Englijb 

 Gardens, nor is it, as yet, become 

 common here ; but it deferves to be 

 propagated as much as any of the 

 ever-green Trees j for the Leaves 

 have a molt beautiful mining Ver- 

 dure, and, in June, the Trees are 

 covered with long Spikes of white 

 Flowers, which, together with the 

 bright-red Bark of the young Shoots, 

 make a very beautiful Appearance: 

 and in the Autumn, when the Ber- 

 ries ripen, they likewife make a 

 goodly Shew ; and what renders this 

 Tree more valuable is, its being fo 

 very hardy, as to defy the feverelt 

 Cold of this Country : for in the hard 

 Froll of the Year 1 740. when almoft 

 every other ever -green Tree and 

 Shrub was feverely pinched, thefe 

 Trees retained their Verdure, and 

 feemed to have felt no Injury. 



This will grow to the Height of 

 ten or twelve Feet in England (but 

 probably, in their native Country, 

 they may be much larger) ; but I 

 have not feen any which are higher 

 here : they generally fend out their 

 Branches near the Ground, and form 

 large fpreading Heads ; but they 

 may be trained up with Stems, ef- 

 pecially fuch Plants as are produ- 

 ced from the Berries, which are more 

 difpofed to grow upright, than thofe 

 which are propagated from Cuttings : 

 therefore where the Berries can be 

 procured in Plenty, I would recom- 

 mend the propagating thefe Trees 



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